Hasselblad's New Camera Costs $9,000, But It Sure Is Compact

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Hasselblad's New Camera Costs $9,000, But It Sure Is Compact

The Hasselblad X1D isn't exactly a small camera. At 1.6 pounds without the lens attached, it's not the kind of mirrorless shooter that'll slip inside your pocket or purse—not without a shoehorn, at least.

But in a certain context, the Hasselblad X1D is an absurdly tiny camera. That's if you consider the sensor tucked inside of it: A 50-megapixel medium-format CMOS imager, a chip with roughly twice the surface area as the one found in a full-frame DSLR. Despite that huge difference in sensor size, the X1D is about the size and weight of a professional DSLR—full-frame shooters like the Nikon D4 and Canon 5D Mark III.

Hasselblad is billing the X1D as the world's first mirrorless medium-format camera. It's certainly smaller than anything in its sensor class. The venerable Swedish camera-maker also hoping the more-portable X1D will help bring medium-format cameras to an everyman crowd; everymen with nine grand to spend, at least.

Light and Motion

Bigger sensors almost always translate to better image quality, and bigger sensors also give cameras better low-light skills. On the X1D, you can ramp the ISO up to 12,800, and the sheer size of the pixels should eliminate the high-ISO noise that's typical of sensors that struggle to slurp up photons in dark scenes.

In terms of features, the X1D shares a lot of things from the recently announced H6D. There's a speedy flash sync at shutter speeds at up to 1/2000 of a second, a 3-inch touchscreen UI, 14-bit color depth, and a fetching orange shutter button. It shoots 1080p video at 30fps, stores its massive files to dual SD card slots, and its body is weather-sealed.

It also matches the continuous-shooting speed of Hasselblad's 50-megapixel H6D, capturing up to 2.3 shots per second. That's especially impressive given the sheer amount of data the X1D is capturing, with RAW files weighing in at 65MB and TIFF files that clock in at 150MB.

Glass Eyes

If you have a bunch of Hasselblad's H-system lenses laying around, great! They'll work with this camera... but you'll need to use an adapter, which is sold separately. Otherwise, you only have two lens options that work natively with the brand-new XCD mount: A 45mm/f3.5 prime and a 90mm/f4.5 prime. Hasselblad says it will roll out new glass for the XCD mount before long.

Oh, and it'll cost you. The only medium-format digital camera of its kind is priced at $9,000, and that's just for the body. Paired with the 45mm lens, it'll go for $11,290. If you want it as a kit with both XCD lenses, be prepared to fork over close to $14,000.